Rumors

Simon Despres Rumor Round-Up

By making defenseman Simon Despres a healthy scratch last night in Winnipeg, the Penguins stirred up the rumor mill quite a bit and the speculation about Despres’s availability is running wild.

Both the Tribune Review and Philly Daily News talked about Despres being on the trading block. This speculation goes back to last season when I had heard around several hockey circles that the former Memorial Cup star would be available in the right deal.

That never came to pass, but it seems that it is again the case. Here is a sampling of the speculation…

First my colleague over at the Penguins’ Radio Network and beat reporter at the Tribune Review, Rob Rossi, weighed in via his chipped ice blog yesterday:

Shero has been stockpiling young defensemen almost since the moment he arrived in Pittsburgh. Yes they feed the pipeline, but they are also fodder for bringing in other things you need, as Rob points out above.

Next up, Frank Seravelli of the Philadelphia Daily News, mentions Despres as a possible target for the Flyers who are very banged up right now.

Comments

About Brian Metzer

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Brian Metzer has been covering the Pittsburgh Penguins and National Hockey League since 2004. He is the host of Penguins Live Weekly, a show that airs Saturday mornings on 105.9 the X and iHeart Radio. He serves as the Pittsburgh Penguins correspondent for NHL Network Radio on SiriusXM, and is the NHL and Penguins correspondent for the Beaver County Times. Metzer is also a contributing writer for NHL.com and is the primary contributor for this site www.fromthepoint.com.

Why would the pens trade him to Philly? Philly beat writer must be an idiot. Do the Yanks-Red Sox trade players? No. Does really any division teams in any sport do? Usually not and there is no way the pens or the cryers do this.